You cannot use a brand in commerce if your use would be confusingly similar to someone else’s brand. So, do not name your company or your product or service without clearing trademark rights first. Once you choose your name, scour the internet using the search engine of your choice to ensure no one else is…

I meet with a lot of folks who have come up with a nifty idea for a product, but who, for various reasons, don’t want to be entrepreneurs. Instead, they want to sell their idea to a big company. If you have an idea for a product that you’re going to promote or peddle to…

When courting potential investors with an executive summary, or even just an email, see if you can deploy a seriously captivating hook right off the bat. I know this is easier said than done. But remember, your executive summary is nothing more than a 30-second blipvert to get the reader interested in taking a meeting…

As your corporate and IP lawyer, I would like to thank you for the situations into which you get yourself, extraction from which requires the payment of substantial sums of cash to me. Far more cash, it must be said, than you would have paid me had you brought the situation to me in the…

The other day I surfed a car company’s website. Then I bought a car from that company. Nice and neat. I’m happy. They’re happy. Ever since then, however, everywhere I go on the web, I am getting served up ads from that very company for that very car. The one I already bought. Whataminute. What?…

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve probably been told that your company needs a good board. You may have overheard other entrepreneurs speak — perhaps boastfully, perhaps resentfully — about their powerful or active (or activist) boards. But what kind of thing is this board of which everyone speaks? It is probably one of two things:…

When first conceiving of a new startup idea, lots of entrepreneurs experience a measure of paranoia about it and start demanding that everyone with whom they discuss it sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). My opinion is: Don’t use an NDA until you must in order to protect highly sensitive, non-public information. NDA’s protect actual secrets,…

With few exceptions, all business should be conducted from within a company that is properly formed and organized as a corporation, a limited liability company (LLC), a limited partnership (LP) or the like. Why? Four basic reasons: a. Asset Protection. Deservedly or not, almost all businesses get sued. Forming a company around the business can…

If you’re starting a company, you may wish to begin in stealth mode, keeping your business idea and plans secret for a little while. During this stealth phase, consider doing the following to protect your intellectual property: Think of a name for the company. Do a trademark search before you form a company. If it’s…

This post is excerpted from Ownability – How Intellectual Property Works, now available for pre-order at a 20% discount at myownability.com. In 2002, Steam Boat Willy, the first major film in which the venerable Mickey Mouse character appears, was about to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its release. Under the copyright law in force at…

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Brent Britton is an intellectual property lawyer in San Francisco, California and Tampa, Florida. This blog is provided for entertainment purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and is not intended to constitute advertising or solicitation for legal services. Reading this blog does not form an attorney-client relationship between you and the author. The views expressed on this blog are those of the author alone, and not his employer.